Free Republic

If there’s one thing the Labour party can agree on this week, it is that efforts by Keir Starmer’s allies to shore up his position backfired spectacularly. By briefing journalists that he would face down any challenge and accusing Wes Streeting of leading an advanced plot to overthrow him, figures around the prime minister managed only to expose the weakness of his position. The sharks were already circling – there is no shortage of senior Labour politicians convinced they can do a better job of running the country. And the botched briefing operation on Tuesday night was proof to many...

Julie Benson has had to "fight" to have a DNR order removed from her sister, who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy but enjoys a "good life".Families have slammed the NHS for putting "do not resuscitate" orders on disabled patients without their consent. An investigation by ITV News found that multiple UK hospitals have put blanket 'Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation' (DNR) orders on at least 12 patients with learning disabilities after being ordered to stop the practice five years ago. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said the blanket imposition of DNRs on disabled people had caused potentially avoidable deaths in...

A skewed Trump speech edit, a Gaza film built around a Hamas operative’s son, and repeated factual distortions have plunged the BBC into a credibility crisis. Conservatives are celebrating, Trump is threatening a major lawsuit, and the network faces a steep political cost There is no need to attribute superpowers to Donald Trump. No American president, not even a narcissist in White House mode, can shake a public broadcaster in another country and continent and trigger the resignation of its director general and head of news. The BBC misled the public about Trump. It deceived viewers who had always regarded...

Allies of Keir Starmer warned Labour plotters last night they could trigger a general election if they oust him. As rumours of a leadership challenge swirled at Westminster, friends of the beleaguered Prime Minister claimed any new leader would 'need their own mandate' from the voters. The warning followed a chaotic day in which a Downing Street bid to 'kneecap' potential rival Wes Streeting backfired disastrously. With Labour currently averaging less than 20 per cent in the polls, an election now could see hundreds of MPs lose their seats. Although there is no legal requirement for a new PM to...

Three failed asylum seekers who arrived in the UK on small boats have appeared in court charged with gang raping a woman on Brighton beach. Two Egyptians and an Iranian Kurdish man are accused of dragging the 33-year-old woman onto the stone beach before subjecting her to a horrific ordeal. The three migrants appeared at Lewes Crown Court in East Sussex today where a trial date was set for next year. symbol

Rapists will no longer be allowed to self-identify as women, Scotland’s top police officer has said in a major U-turn. Jo Farrell, the Police Scotland chief constable, said on Wednesday that her force would back a long-standing campaign to “accurately” record the sex of alleged rapists, instead of allowing a situation in which they could theoretically have been formally classified as women. Under Scottish law, only men can commit rape. However, the national force had previously said the sex of anyone who comes “into contact” with it, including suspects, would be based “on how they present or how they self-declare”....

The new Archbishop of Canterbury says that churches should not feel anxious about baptising asylum seekers in the face of concerns about fake conversions. Dame Sarah Mullally, who will move into Lambeth Palace next year, claimed that due to the persecution faced by millions of Christians around the world, people may wait until they are in the UK to publicly declare their faith. The Archbishop of Canterbury-designate made her comments as she raised her concern over a call in Parliament for the rejection of refugee claims on grounds of religious persecution, where the person converted after arriving in the UK....

The resignations at the top of the BBC feature on almost every front page, alongside a slew of critical headlines. "BBC Bosses Quit In Disgrace" says the Daily Mail while "Beeb Boss Quits Over Trump Lies" says the Sun. According to the Daily Telegraph, the decisions by Tim Davie and Deborah Turness to step down have left the BBC "facing its biggest crisis in more than a decade" with senior MPs demanding a "major shake-up". The Financial Times says the simultaneous departures underline the scale of the problems at the corporation. The Guardian reports that the resignations have caused "shock"...

The new moniker combines the royal family's name, Windsor, chosen by King George V in 1917, with Mountbatten, the surname of Andrew's late father, Prince Philip. The UK's former Prince Andrew may have lost his title, his house and assets granted by the Crown along with his reputation after his connection with disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein came to light, but on Wednesday he gained something. And that something was a hyphen to his new name. The disgraced royal will from now be known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and not, as was previously announced, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. The...

Britain’s government was due to weigh in Tuesday on a feud between the BBC and U.S. President Donald Trump, who is threatening to sue the broadcaster over the way it edited a speech he made after losing the 2020 presidential election. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy was set to deliver a statement on the BBC crisis in the House of Commons, with critics demanding major changes to the corporation and supporters urging the government to defend the U.K.'s public broadcaster from political interference. Outgoing BBC Director-General Tim Davie, who announced his resignation on Sunday because of the scandal, said the BBC...

Allies of the prime minister are making it clear he would fight any challenge to his leadership from Labour MPs. There are fears from those loyal to Sir Keir Starmer that his job might be under immediate threat, perhaps as soon as shortly after the Budget in a fortnight's time. Critics say it is evidence that Downing Street is "in full bunker mode" which "won't help the government out of the hole we're in." Friends of Sir Keir are deeply worried about what they see as plotting going on to try to replace him and are seeking to make clear...

The United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. The UK’s decision marks a significant break from its closest ally and intelligence sharing partner and underscores the growing skepticism over the legality of the US military’s campaign around Latin America. For years, the UK, which controls a number of territories in the Caribbean where it bases intelligence assets, has helped the US locate vessels suspected...

Although a general election is not likely until 2029—a lifetime in political terms—the latest opinion polls show that British politics are becoming ever more fragmented. Over the past year support has haemorrhaged away from Labour under Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister, with the primary beneficiary being Reform UK. A simple calculation based on uniform national swing suggests that if an election were held tomorrow Reform would have a one-in-five chance of winning a majority in the Commons. And if Reform banded together with the listless Conservatives, they would have a four-in-five chance of a majority. By contrast the centre-left...

Asylum seekers living in hotels have reported rats, overcrowding and food so bad it leads to deficiencies, research has found. Profiting From People: Inside the UK’s Asylum Hotels, a report from the Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London (Ramfel), draws on work with 493 people housed in asylum hotels between January 2023 and February 2025. Asylum seekers reported overcrowded conditions, including families of six living in a single room.

A second person who was removed to France under the government’s “one in, one out” deal has returned to the UK, the Home Office has confirmed. The unnamed man arrived back in the UK after joining nearly 400 people who crossed the Channel in small boats on Sunday. The Home Office said the person, whose age and nationality are yet to be disclosed, was detected by biometrics as one of the 94 people who had been removed from Britain under the UK-France treaty over the past two months. He was detained immediately and the department said he would be taken...

The BBC has upheld 20 impartiality complaints over the way presenter Martine Croxall altered a script she was reading live on the BBC News Channel, which referred to "pregnant people" earlier this year. Croxall was introducing an interview about research on groups most at risk during UK heatwaves, which quoted a release from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). The presenter changed her script to instead say "women", and the BBC's Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) said it considered her facial expression as she said this gave the "strong impression of expressing a personal view on a controversial...

A total of 503 migrants crossed the English Channel in one day as the Government considers a major shake-up of the country’s immigration rules. The latest arrivals came in seven small boats on Saturday, with more vessels making the crossing from France on Sunday. It brings the total for the past three days to 1,772, and for the year so far to 38,726. This compares with 32,119 who made the journey by the same date last year, and 26,699 in 2023. More people were photographed in Dover on Sunday being brought ashore on a Border Force vessel while wearing lifejackets,...

Tim Davie has resigned as the director general of the BBC following criticism that a Panorama documentary misled viewers by editing a speech by US President Donald Trump. Deborah Turness, the corporation's head of News, has also stepped down from her role over the issue. Davie had held the top job for five years, but had recently faced increasing pressure over a series of missteps and allegations of bias. The Telegraph published details of a leaked internal BBC memo on Monday that suggested the Panorama programme edited two parts of Trump's speech together so he appeared to explicitly encourage the...

Plans have been drawn up to send small boat migrants to six military bases around the country as ministers come under growing pressure to close asylum hotels. A list of sites from Surrey to Cumbria – all of which could be brought into use within weeks - has been compiled by the Ministry of Defence, the Mail on Sunday can disclose. The plan would see migrants accommodated on Army training camps where facilities have recently been upgraded but which are not currently being used by the military. The bases include two sites in Norfolk, West Tofts and Wretham; Knook Camp...

The BBC is preparing to launch an investigation to assess bias in its climate change coverage, amid a growing crisis at the corporation. The broadcaster has decided to review its climate and energy policy reporting after a string of controversies. It has been forced to make a series of corrections, with some programmes being removed altogether. It comes with the BBC at the centre of a bias row after The Telegraph published a leaked letter, which had been sent to members of the BBC board by Michael Prescott, a former standards adviser. He wrote of his “despair at inaction” by...